


When They Were Happy

by Harvestqueen



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Post Series, Probably very off canon spirit nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:35:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25719664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harvestqueen/pseuds/Harvestqueen
Summary: Korra can't get them off her mind, the people that died during everything that has happened in her short life as the avatar. She goes to the one person who she thinks might be able to help, and finds the spirits in a strange, happy land.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato, P'li/Zaheer (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 47





	When They Were Happy

**Author's Note:**

> As the tags say, probably a lot of this is canon divergent, idc. I got this idea for the fic and just wanted to write it so whatever.

Korra thought that the spirit world would be a welcome relief from everything she had been feeling for months… no, years. It didn’t start with Kuvira, it ended with her. But she had been having the horrible dreams of the others for years. Amon, Tarrlok, Unalaq, the red lotus… at first they were simple dreams. Reliving what had happened, what had been done to her. It had been far from pleasant. But things seemed to slip away from that and get even more unsettling.

Because all she could think about were their deaths.

Logically, Korra knew that her killing them was no evil on the world. They would have killed her too if given the chance, half of them tried to, and they probably would have brought more misery upon the world if they could too. Spirits, most of them she didn’t even kill and yet still she felt their immortal souls weighing on her. She would go to bed happy, holding Asami and knowing that their day ahead would be a good one, but wake up thinking of the bodies in the ground. Her and Asami could go and travel the world, travel the spirit realm and see everything there was to see, but others couldn’t.

And it was beginning to drive her crazy because she knew that it was so illogical to have this on her mind, that there was nothing to mourn when it came for these people. And… well, the last time she had an illogical problem, something that she couldn’t quite get over, there was one person she went to for help.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Asami asked for what felt for the millionth time, but somehow it wasn’t annoying for Korra to hear. In reality she wasn’t sure, she had questioned herself over and over, but she was still on her way.

“I’m sure,” she said in a voice far more confident than how she felt.

“He’s such a—”

“Zaheer is an asshole, I know.” Korra finished her thought and looked at her with a lopsided grin. “Thanks for worrying about me. But Zaheer is good with these things. And I can’t think of any other way to get them out of my mind and I’m starting to get desperate.”

Asami just nodded and then took Korra’s hand, her way of telling her that she trusted her judgement. It was already too late to back out anyhow, the airbender was in sight.  
Korra let go of her hand after a bit and walked to the tree where he was meditating and looked at him. He was floating, as he always did, as if it was some sort of non verbal brag, and meditating. She had no worries walking over however. “Zaheer,” she said loudly, snapping him out of his concentration.

He hardly seemed bothered. He looked at her with a slight smile. “Ah. Korra. It is good to see you in the spirit world once more.”

Her instincts wanted to tell him to shut up and just listen, a part of her really hating that after everything he had done, he still couldn’t be blocked out from the spirit world. But neither of those facts helped her, Zaheer was likely the only one who could. She walked over and sat across from him with her legs crossed, slumping over a little bit as she eyed him cautiously. Asami stayed firmly behind her, and the three waited in awkward silence. It was clear that the avatar had no idea what to say.

“Well, I see you don’t have any problem coming to the spirit world anymore,” he said unhelpfully. She didn’t respond. He looked over at Asami. “Who is this?”

“No one you need to know,” Korra told him as she looked at Asami as well. She could take care of herself, but a part of Korra knew that Zaheer wouldn’t start a fight in the spirit world anyhow. Still, she didn’t want Asami to be roped into the madness of the strange man. At worst he would find a way to corrupt her and break her spirit. Even at best, he would talk her ear off about the poetry of Guru Laghima. 

Korra finally looked back at him. When their eyes met she looked off, almost feeling ashamed of what she was about to admit. “I… can’t get them out of my mind.”

Zaheer raised a brow. “Them?”

“The people that have died because of me,” she murmured. “Unalaq… your friends. Even Tarrlok and Amon who Tenzin keep telling me we don’t know they died but I am sure of it—”

“That would be a good assumption,” Zaheer agreed. He must have heard about them. “I think about them often too. Perhaps not the other three but the members of the Red Lotus who I let down.”

Korra scowled. “Don’t get me wrong, I know that we needed to stop all of you. You were trying to kill me. I don’t feel guilty—”

“Then perhaps it isn’t guilt,” he said simply and she paused. He stood up and then offered her a hand to help her up, but Korra got up on her own. “I actually know a place that will help you.”

“I’m coming with you two,” Asami said with that tone in her voice that told Korra ‘and don’t you dare try to tell me no’ so she didn’t even attempt. She went and joined hands with the other two, as much as Korra hated holding Zaheer’s hand and having him touch her in general, she knew it was the fastest way. They all closed their eyes.

Before they even opened them, all Korra could feel was cold. A familiar cold that she knew so very well. It reminded her instantly of home and she couldn’t help but smile, letting it drop after a moment. She opened her eyes and looked around, seeing that they were indeed in an icy tundra. It was beautiful, vast white that went on and on in every direction—

A snowball hit her right in the head.

Korra blinked as she whipped her head around, expecting that perhaps Asami had done it, even though that was a stupid assumption. But instead she saw a little boy, a little water tribe boy with his hair tied back in three strands and the chubbiest cheeks anyone could imagine. He was very close by and giggling like mad.

“Tarrlok!” Another boy shouted. He was only a bit older. “You’re not supposed to be throwing snowballs at strangers!”

Korra paused and then looked at the kid again. Did the older one just say Tarrlok?

“Sorry Noa!” The little boy said to the older as he approached. Tarrlok gave the biggest pout that Korra had ever seen since… well, honestly herself when she was his age, with the biggest watery eyes. The other boy, who she had decided was Noatak, relented and then ruffled his hair. 

“Just don’t do it again,” he said and then put his hands on his shoulder. “Sorry missus. He was just playing.”

Korra was still stuck in her own confusion and opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. 

“That’s alright,” Zaheer said with a smile as he knelt beside the boys. “Why don’t you two go back to playing?”

“Okay.” Noatak said but Tarrlok stayed, looking up at Korra. He seemed utterly fascinated. 

“Can you come and play with us?” Tarrlok asked with a smile. “You look like a really strong water bender!”

Korra finally snapped out of her confusion enough. That was Tarrlok, and right behind him was Amon. The men she had spent a lot of time hating for her first year in republic city, Amon who had haunted her dreams and Tarrlok the man who had blood bent her into submission and kidnapped her. 

They were just the two most adorable boys she had ever seen.

“I… can’t play right now,” she said with a small smile, much to his disappointment. She looked at Asami. “But my friend Asami can.”

Tarrlok looked over at Asami and broke into a big grin. "Okay! She's very pretty too!"

“What?” Asami asked as Tarrlok lit up and ran, grabbing her hand in his tiny one. 

“Come on, you can be on our team! Ghazan is too big. It isn’t fair!” He was still giggling as he took her off to a near by snow fort.

Ghazan? Korra looked at Zaheer once Asami was gone. “What is this place, Zaheer?”

“A spirit realm,” he said as he walked forward with his hands behind her back. “Interacting with you in the way that they did gave everyone here a spiritual connection, and now here they are.”

“But why are they kids?” She asked and looked around.

“Those two are kids because it was the last time they were truly happy,” he said, and Korra felt her stomach sink a little bit. They were both approaching forty by the time they died, but they were only happy as kids? “Unalaq… well, I don’t know where he is right now, not playing with the kids I’m guessing, he is in his twenties. I am assuming it is lined up to when his children were born for they are the only ones he talks about.”

Well, at least Unalaq was happy after he managed to screw over her father—

He pointed to the other snow fort where Korra was able to recognize the lava bender making snowballs. He didn’t look as old as he was when they had crossed paths, but certainly not as young as the kids. Ming Hua was with him too, sitting against the snowy wall. She looked to be the same age and looked healthy, far healthier than she was after the volcano. She still didn’t have her arms.

“They’re teenagers,” Zaheer said, noticing she was staring. “The last time they were happy was when they joined the Red Lotus and met each other.”

“Bolin said they had an unspoken attraction,” Korra murmured. “Where’s P’li?”

“Off with Unalaq perhaps… she was happiest when we broke her out of prison,” he murmured.

“Oh.” That struck her as sad. She wasn’t sure why.

“Ready?!” Ghazan’s voice bellowed through the tundra and Ming Hua cackled.

“You’re going to cause an avalanche!”

“There’s no mountain to fall down!”

“You’re still going to make it happen!”

“Don’t distract me! They could be coming any minute you know.”

“Ready!” Tarrlok called, giving away the element of surprise that they could have had. Korra looked over and couldn’t stop from smiling when she saw Asami making snowballs and putting them in Tarrlok’s tiny little mitted hands. The situation, really, was too strange to be cute when she thought about it logically. But seeing them all together, all happy in the spirit world…

“How are they here?” She asked and Zaheer looked at her.

“There are only part of their spirits that came here. If you look hard enough you can find just about anyone that you want to find. Anything that you want to see.”

Korra watched as the snowball fight began. “They’re… not real, are they?”

“Would it bring you any comfort if they weren’t?”

Korra didn’t respond. Ghazan was clearly going easy on the kids as they pelted him with snowballs, and Ming Hua just sat back laughing at him, clearly showing no indication that she was going to help him in any way. It really was a ridiculous sight.

“You could not stop thinking about them, and if I had to guess why it is because you are a human and you knew that they were human as well. As bad as they were, as many horrible things as they have done… everyone has their happiness at the end of the day. I like to believe that this is the place that the goodness of people’s spirits come to rest,” he said. “Although you may be right. They may not be real.”

She nodded and then jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over and saw Unalaq, P’li joining Zaheer at his side. 

“Hello Korra,” he said. She didn’t think she had ever seen Unalaq smile, and it was the ghost of one but it was certainly there. “It is nice to see you again.”

For the first time since… ever, she actually believed him.

“Ghazan is being ridiculous with the children,” P’li said as Zaheer pulled her close to him. Her hair was a complete mess and she didn’t look nearly as put together as when Korra had seen her. She really had just broken out of jail. 

“You can’t stop water tribe children from playing in the snow,” Unalaq murmured and Korra just went back to watching. It was so strange to have Unalaq there. He left and went to the far end of the field to meditate, but P’li stayed with Zaheer.

Korra made her move and went behind Tarrlok’s little snow fort where Asami was. Asami looked at her with a bit of a laugh. “Is this helping you?”

Korra looked over the edge of the wall where Tarrlok and Amon had practically buried Ghazan in snow, and she couldn’t help but grin. “I don’t know,” she said, “But I’m glad I got here.”

She stole a snowball from Asami’s pile and hopped over the side. “Hey, three against one isn’t fair!” She called and threw a snowball at Amon’s back. He whirled around and got a dangerous smile on his little face, making his own and going after her. Asami dutifully stood up and began to go after Korra too, protecting her pint-sized teammates.

And before Korra knew it, she found herself happy, genuinely happy, a strange thing to be when surrounded by people who had tried to kill her. She resigned herself to not thinking about it too much.

Maybe she could finally make a memory devoid of death and hatred.


End file.
